Tracey King Day 1

Even if the rain was falling in long hard wind blown streaks, the National airlines carrier landed safely. Tracey mentioned it was a very turbulent flight and since she is a qualified paraglider pilot I knew that that meant something. Driving back to Wilderness we spoke about her butterflies and whether that was a good thing or not. Indeed it is not everyday that one embarks on the adventure of learning to fly a hang glider.

Surprisingly this morning dawned bright and sunny. It was not to last though as the cold front had not done its rounds yet - pretty soon the heavens opened up again. We had plenty to do from a theory point of view and by lunch time had finished one of the required exams as well as our coffee quota for the day! After a short break I had her hanging in the simulator while we went through a couple of control movements. At this stage 6 inches of height above the ground was of course no concern and we sailed through the control concepts. Outside the rain had stopped but the wind was howling.

Tracey in the simulator...

By 4 I thought it worth a drive to the beach to have a look - you just never know. Of course as with all PG pilots, when it comes to strong wind, Tracey's eyes where wide. "Are we going to do anything in this wind!!!!??" On the way we bumped into Dick another hang glider pilot from Cape Town and he enthusiastically helped by being wing man. With newbies it was always very needed! Before long Tracey was up and flying. We had a couple of runs and all of it good practice. We even gave Jane, Dicks better half a turn and because she is such a light weight just kited her along the beach a foot or so above the ground. By 6 we were tired and called it a day but not before we popped in at Pomodoros for a great pizza and bottle of wine.

Good progress. What will tomorrow bring?

Tracey getting airborne..

Wish you were here!

:)